Dye beck having flame fired heat exchanger



Dec. 6, 1966 H. M. HALL DYE BECK HAVING FLAME FIRED HEAT EXCHANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 2, 1964 HERMAN M, HALL 6- W W y H. M. HALL DYE BECK HAVING FLAME FIRED HEAT EXCHANGER Dec, 6, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 2, 1964 nmwmra. HERMAN M. HALL United States Patent 3,289,439 DYE BECK HAVING FLAME FIRED HEAT EXCHANGER Herman M. Hall, Dalton, Ga., assignor to Dalton Sheet Metal Co., Inc., Dalton, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Filed June 2, 1964, Ser. No. 371,910 1 Claim. (CI. 68-15) This invention relates broadly to improvements in dye becks and more particularly to improved heat exchanger means for dye becks.

Conventionally, cloth and carpet dyeing becks are provided near their bottoms with perforated pipes for introducing live steam directly into the dye bath to heat the same to the boiling point. This arrangement has definite disadvantages which are well known in the art and which heretofore have not been completely overcome.

The introduction of live steam into the dye bath dilutes the bath and causes shading of the color. The introduction of live steam 'into the bath creates turbulence or agitation which may also adversely affect the finish of the material. The use of live steam or heating does not result in temperature uniformity across the full width of the material and temperatures may vary as much as from to F. from one end of the beck to the other. In areas of higher temperature, the dye exhaustion onto the fabric is greater resulting in color variations and darker shades in the high temperature areas. This is obviously an undesirable result. According to the present invention, temperature uniformity from end-to-end of the beck is almost perfect and the maximum temperature variation is about 1 F.

There are other problems encountered where live steam is employed. The dye bath may be contaminated from dirty boiler water carried over by the steam. There is frequently noise and vibration caused by the injection of steam into the bath and in some cases the vibration has been so great that the seams of the tub or tank have eventually split. There have been various proposals in the prior art to overcome these difficulties and problems including the use of pumps, paddle wheels, spraying attachments, segmented steam lines and the like, none of which expedients have proven entirely satisfactory.

According to the invention, and a primary object thereof, a dye beck is provided which is entirely independent of steam operation for heating and which is self-heating in a highly efficient and uniform manner and at a desirable rate by means of a direct flame-fired heat exchanger, forming the heart of the invention. The steam capacity of many dye houses is limited and steam heating in the above manner is costly. The invention dye beck and the heat exchanger means thereof derives heat from the direct flame of a pair of gun-type burners or the like with a significant saving in overall cost compared to steam operation. Also, the construction of the heat exchanger is such that a much more even distribution of heat is created and in less time than with the conventional steam heating means, as will be further explained. Due to the direct flame firing of the exchanger and the external contours of its pipes or tubes, the exchanger is substantially selfcleaning and does not collect upon its surfaces the rather large amounts of lint or flock sometimes present in the dye bath. The invention heat exchanger cannot be clogged externally or internally by the lint or flock due to its construction which will be fully described. Many additional objects and advantages of the invention will be completely understood by those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

3,289,439 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a bodying the invention,

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical transverse section taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of heat exchanger structure removed or isolated from the dye beck for clarity of illustration.

In the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 10 designates a dye beck in its entirety, including a suitable supporting framework 11 and a dyeing tub or vat 12 suitably integrated and rigid with the framework in accordance with conventional practice. Above and rest ing upon the framework 11 is a top housing or cover section 13 having a large front opening 14 above the dyeing vat proper.

Journaled within the rear portion of cover section 13 is the usual power-driven main reel 15 for propelling the endless fabric or carpet tow 16 through the dye bath 17 in the vat 12 in a well-known manner. Toward the front of the heck, a spreader roll 18 is similarly joumaled for rotation within the upper section 13 and the purpose of this roll is to maintain the fabric or carpeting spread out over its entire width which may be up to fifteen feet in some instances. The tow 16 is generally about three hundred feet long although this length may vary depending upon the nature of the material. The construction thus far is generally conventional and need .not be dealt with in greater detail.

The vat 12 at its forward side includes a heat exchanger portion 19 which spans the entire beck lengthwise of the rolls 15 and 18 and between the end walls 20. The heat exchanger area or portion 19 is defined by and betweenthe front vertical wall 21 of the beck and an upright perforated partition or baffie 22 spaced somewhat rearwardly thereof, adjacent a slightly depressed floor portion 23 of the beck. The perforated baflle 22 allows the dye bath to flow into the heat exchanger area 19 and to circulate freely therein, but the bafile eliminates turbulence within the main chamber 24 of the beck where the major portion of the dye bath resides and where the actual dyeing process takes place.

The heat exchanger structure within the portion or chamber 19 forms the heart of the invention and includes the following. A pair of separately formed banks 25 and 26 of heat exchanger tubing are disposed in side-byside spaced parallel relation in the chamber 19 and extend for substantially the full length of the beck between the end walls 20. Each bank 25 and 26, as shown, includes three elongated horizontal vertically spaced passes 27, 28 and 29, disposed in a common vertical plane and connected at adjacent ends by U-shaped portions 30 near the beck end walls 20. 'Each horizontal pass of each tube bank 25 and 26 is hexagonal in cross section throughout the major portion of its length as shown clearly in FIGURE 2 and this arrangement provides upwardly converging sloping faces 31 on the top of each pass, rendering the heat exchanger self-cleaning in the sense that lint and flocking will not tend to collect upon the tubing passes and slides off readily. As shown in FIGURE 2, the tubing passes are somewhat elongated in the vertical direction cross sectionally and they are constructed as large as possible within the confines of the chamber 19 to provide the maximum heat radiating or transfer area within this chamber extending for the full length thereof and throughout a major portion of the height of the chamber. The configuration and arrangement and relative spacing of the tubing passes remains as illustrated in the drawings for all sizes of installations, although the dye beck emdimensions of the heck and heat exchanger structure may vary considerably to achieve different heating and dyeing capacities. In any event, as shown clearly in the drawings, a major portion of the volume of the entire chamber space 19 is taken up by the heat exchanger tubing and the tubing extends substantially for the entire length of the beck adjacent the baffle 22. This provides for a most efiicient, rapid and uniform heating of the dye bath over the full width of the fabric tow which is most important and impossible to achieve with live steam heating methods and other prior art arrangements. As shown in FIGURE 2, the side-by-side vertical banks 25 and 26 are spaced apart sufficiently and also spaced from the wall 21 and baffle 22 in such a manner that they cannot become clogged in these regions with lint or other debris. There can of course be no internal clogging of the heat exchanger because no liquid enters the tubing which is directly fired somewhat in the manner of a fire tube boiler.

Each bank 25 and 26 has a lowermost inlet cylindrical tube section 32 arranged oppositely or reversely when installed on the beck, FIGURES 3 and 4. The remote ends of each bank 25 and 26 carry vertical outlet sections or chimneys 33 also disposed oppositely on opposite ends of the beck in assembly. The banks 25 and 26 are side-by-side at the same elevation as clearly shown.

'The chimney portions 33 may be covered by cowls 34 on opposite ends of the beck, if desired. The chimney portions 33 are for the purpose of exhausting carbon monoxide and other combustion products to the atmosphere outside of the building. The inlet sections 32 project through openings in the beck end walls 20 for connection with or to receive the direct flame and heat of gun-type burners or the like, shown diagrammatically at 35 in FIGURE 3 and omitted elsewhere on the drawings. The construction of the burners may vary and they may be oil burners or gas burners. In any event, they direct a strong blast of flame into the inlet sections 32 in the direction of the arrows in FIGURE 4 and the chimneys 33 create a strong natural draft through the several tubing passes which combined with the jet force of the burners creates a very eflicient direct heating action and a rapid exchange of heat to the surrounding dye bath in the chamber 19. Substantially the entire frontal side of the beck 10 defined by the wall 21, the tubing banks 26 and 25 and the perforated bafiie 22 becomes a heat radiator to rapidly and evenly bring the dye bath to the desired temperature along the full length of the heck between its end walls 20 and therefore over the full width of the tow 16. It has been found that in actual practice a temperature variation of as little as 1 F. can be maintained from end-to-end of the beck. Since there is no release of steam into the liquid bath, the extreme turbulence or agitation encountered with steam is not present, enabling the operator to carry the bath temperature up to the true boiling point which is necessary. Likewise, there is no dilution of the bath commonly caused when steam is injected. The invention structure is actually a great deal more simplified and less expensive than the steam injection systems and heat exchanger devices operating with steam known to the prior art. Coupled with this economy of construction is the far more efficient heating operation above-described which is the essential feature or merit of the invention.

While the specification and drawings are directed to a particular type of beck used to dye fabric or carpeting in a long endless tow, it should be understood that the principles of the invention are equally applicable to other types of dyeing machines such as becks which include paddles and removable dump basket and becks which are primarily designed for dyeing cut pieces of fabric. It is believed that the essential direct heat exchanger means of the invention may be applied to substantially all known types of dyeing machines and it is the intention herein to disclose only a single preferred embodiment.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A dye beck comprising a vat body portion adapted to hold a dyeing bath, an upstanding perforated baffle within said body portion near one side Wall thereof and dividing the interior of the body portion into a wide dyeing chamber and a narrow heat exchanger chamber, a main cloth reel and spreader roll supported above said dyeing chamber for propelling and guiding a cloth tow through said bath in the dyeing chamber continuously, and a direct flame-fired heat exchanger submerged within the dyeing bath of the heat exchanger chamber, said heat exchanger comprising plural substantially vertical banks of large cross section direct flame-fired tubes which extend for substantially the entire length of the heat exchanger chamber, the total cross sectional area of said tubes constituting a major fraction of the complete cross sectional area of the heat exchanger chamber, the ends of the tubes in each bank connected to form a continuous zigzag passage through each bank of tubes, the passages of said banks being in opposed flow relationship.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 793,472 6/1905 Thorbus 126-360 1,227,566 5/1917 Ayling 126-360 2,289,930 7/1942 Payen 68177 X 2,290,784 7/1942 Turpin 126360 2,495,673 1/1950 Erwin 126360 2,655,144 10/1953 Keating 126360 X 3,218,833 11/1965 Booth 68-15 X FOREIGN PATENTS 817,591 10/1951 Germany.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner. 

